compel, induce or prevail upon any voter either to give or refrain from giving his vote for any particular person or persons at any election. This section shall apply to corporations as well as individuals, and any person or corporation violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and any corporation violating this section shall forfeit its charter.

Violation of Secrecy of Ballot.

2873. [Sec. 35.] Every commissioner, judge, watcher or clerk of an election, who, previous to putting the ballot of an elector in the ballot box, attempts to find out any name on such ballot, or who opens or suffers the folded ballot of any elector which has been handed in to be opened or examined previous to putting the same in the ballot box, or who makes or places any mark or device on any folded ballot with the view to ascertain the name of any person for whom the elector has voted, or who, without the consent of the elector, discloses the name of any person which such commissioner, judge, watcher or clerk has fraudulently or illegally discovered to have been voted for by such elector, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Duty of District Attorney.

2874. [Sec. 36.] If the district attorney of a parish shall be notified by any officer or other person of any violation of any of the provisions of this act, it shall be his duty forthwith to diligently inquire into the facts of such violation, and if there is reasonable ground for instituting a prosecution, it shall be the duty of such district attorney to present the said charge, with all the evidence which he can procure, to the grand jury of such parish. If any district attorney shall fail or refuse to faithfully perform any duty imposed upon him by this act, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall forfeit his office. It shall be the duty of the district attorney under the penalty of forfeiture of his office, to prosecute any and all persons guilty of any violation of the provisions of this act, the penalty of which is fine or imprisonment, or both, or removal from office. Any citizen may employ an attorney to assist the district attorney to perform his duties under this act, and such attorney shall be recognized by the district attorney and the court as associate counsel in the proceeding; and no prosecution, action or proceeding shall be dismissed without notice to, or against the objection of, such associate counsel until the reasons

of the district attorney for such dismissal, together with the objections thereto of said associate counsel, shall have been filed in writing argued by counsel, and fully considered by the court, with such limitations as to the time of filing such reasons and objections as the court may impose.

Penalty for Violation of Act.

2875. [Sec. 37.] Any person or candidate who shall violate any provision of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and any such candidate shall, in addition to the punishment prescribed by law, forfeit any office to which he may have been elected at the election in reference to which such crime or offense was committed; and if the candidate so offending is the incumbent of an office of profit or trust under the laws of this State, he shall thereby forfeit his office. Any candidate who procures, aids, assists, counsels, or advises the payment of any money or other valuable thing by or in behalf of a committee selected under the provisions of section one of this act, and such payment is made for any purpose which if the money was expended by the candidate, would work a forfeiture of the office to which he has been elected, such payment shall be deemed to have been made by such candidate, and he shall forfeit any office to which he may have been elected at the election in reference to which such payment was made by or on behalf of such committee.

Right to Contest.

2876. [Sec. 38.] Any twenty-five voters of the State, or of any political division thereof, may contest the right of any person to nomination, position or office, for which said voters had the right to vote, on the ground of deliberate, serious and material violation of the provisions of this act or of any other provisions of law relating to nominations and elections. Any defeated candidate for said nomination, position or office may make said contest. Said procedure shall be commenced by petition filed in the district court of the parish in which the candidate whose election is contested resides, and the contest shall be a preference case and passed upon speedily. In case of contests over nominations, the court shall pronounce whether the incumbent or contestant was duly nominated, and the person so declared nominated shall have his name printed on the official ballot. What Does Not Deprive Candidate of Nomination.

2877. [Sec. 39.] When upon the trial of any action or proceeding under this act it shall appear from the evidence that

the offense complained of was not committed by the candidate, or with his knowledge or consent, or was committed without his sanction or connivance, and that all reasonable means were taken by or on behalf of the candidate, or that the offenses complained of were trivial, unimportant or limited in character, and that in all respects his candidacy and election were free from all offensive or illegal acts, or that any act or omission of any candidate complained of arose from accidental miscalculation or from some other reasonable cause of like nature, and in any case did not arise from any want of good faith, and under the circumstances it seems to the court to be unjust that the candidate shall forfeit his nomination, position or office, then the nomination or election of such candidate shall not by reason of such offense complained of to be void, nor shall the candidate be removed from nor deprived of his nomination, position or office.

Contract to Be Made Within Ten Days.

2878. [Sec. 40.] Any action under this act contesting any nomination or election must be commenced within ten days after the day of the primary, or thirty days after a general election, unless the ground of action is discovered from the statements filed under this act, in which event the action must be commenced within ten and thirty days after such discovery, respectively. Any action to annul any nomination or election of a person for office mentioned in this act, must be filed in the district court of the parish in which the person resides, whose right to the nomination, position or office is contested.

Corporate Liability.

2879. [Sec. 41.] Any corporation organized under the laws of this State, or doing business therein, may be brought into the district court on the ground of the deliberate, serious and material violation of this act by proceedings begun and continued in substantially the same form as is required in the case of contesting the nomination or election of any candidate for public office under this act. The petition shall be filed in the district court of the parish in which the corporation has its principal office, or in which the violation of this act is averred to have occurred. If judgment shall be rendered in such proceedings against the corporation, and it shall be found to have violated the said act, judgment shall be awarded against the said corporation in the amount of not exceeding ten thousand dollars, or the said court may forfeit the charter of said company, if it is a company organized under the laws of this State.

Guilty Candidate Ineligible to Hold Office.

2880. [Sec. 42.] A candidate elected to an office, and whose election thereto has been annulled and set aside for any offense mentioned in this act, shall not, during the period fixed by law as the terms of such office, be appointed to fill any vacancy which may occur in such office. A candidate or other person who is removed from or deprived of his office for any offense men

tioned in this act, shall not, during the period remaining as the unexpired term of such office, or during the period fixed by law as the next ensuing term of such office, be appointed to fill any vacancy which may occur in such office. Any appointment to an office made in violation of or contrary to the provisions of this section shall be void.

2881. [Sec. 43.] In event that any provision or paragraph or part of this act shall be questioned in any court and shall be held to be invalid, the remainder of the act shall not be invalidated, but shall remain in full force and effect.

Scope of Act.

2882. [Sec. 44.] All acts or parts of acts inconsistent or in conflict with this act are hereby repealed, provided, the provisions of this act on the same subject matter as the primary election law are not to be construed as a repeal, but as supplementary and additional thereto.

Corporations Must Not Make Political Contributions.

2882a. [Sec. 1, Act 20, 1915, p. 44.] All corporations companies and association, organized under the laws of the State of Louisiana, and all corporations, companies and associations organized under the laws of any other State of the Union, or in the District of Columbia, or by act of the Congress of the United States, or under the laws of any foreign state, but domiciled, or having an office or agent, or doing business in this State, are hereby prohibited from directly, or indirectly, contributing, donating, or lending any of the funds or other property of the corporation, company or association, to promote, aid, advocate or oppose any political or other issue, which may be submitted to the people of the State of Louisiana, or any Congressional District, Parish, municipality, levee district, school district, drainage district, or any other subdivision of the state, for its decision, and upon which the people of the state or any of the said divisions may be called upon to vote at any general or special election.

2882b. [Sec. 2.] The corporations, companies and associations described in Section 1 of this Act, are further prohibited from at any time, directly or indirectly, contributing, donating or lending any of the funds or other property of the corporation, company or association to any political party, or any faction thereof, or to any committee or any individual, representing such party or faction, or to aid, or oppose, or defeat the election of any individual who may be a candidate for public office in the State of Louisiana, or any Congressional District, parish, municipality, levee district, school district, drainage district, or any other subdivision of the State.

Secretary of State to Demand Statements from Corporations.

2882c. [Sec. 3.] During the month of January, of every year, the Secretary of State shall address to each corporation, company or association described in Section 1 of this Act, a re

quest to file in his office at the Capital of the State, on or before the 1st day of March following, a statement sworn to by the President and one of the Directors of the corporation, all of whom must at the time be residents of the State, showing the funds or other property which have been directly or indirectly contributed, donated or loaned by the company, corporation, or association for any of the purposes prohibited by sections one and two of this act, during the preceding year.

Affidavit to Statement.

2882d. [Sec. 4.] When the President or Directors are absent from the State, or are otherwise unable to act, the affidavit may be made by any two resident officers, or other representatives of the corporation, company, or association. Any affidavit made by others than the president and one director must recite the causes why the affidavit is made by others than the president and one director.

2882e. [Sec. 5.] The making of the affidavit herein required shall be conclusive evidence of the complete knowledge of the affiants, of the facts sworn to by each of them, and where it is shown that any of the material recitals of the affidavit are not true, the affiants shall be guilty of false swearing and subject on conviction to the penalties prescribed as punishments for said offense.

Penalty for Failure to File Statement.

2882f. [Sec. 6.] The failure to file the statement prescribed in Section 3 of this Act, on or before the first day of March in each year, when requested to do so by the Secretary of State, shall subject the corporation, company or association to a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than five thousand dollars.

Secretary of State to Send Copies of Statements to District Attorneys.

2882g. [Sec. 7.] During the month of March in each year, and not later than the first day of April, the Secretary of State shall send to the various district attorneys throughout the State, copies of the statements made to the Secretary of the State, by the various corporations, companies and associations domiciled in, or having an office or agent, or doing business in their respective districts; and the Secretary of State shall further send to the district attorneys the name, or names, of any corporations within their respective districts, who have failed to file statements, provided, however, that where a corporation, company or association has an agent or office, or is engaged in business in more than one district, the notice shall be sent to the district wherein the corporation, etc., has its principal office, or to the district where the Secretary of State may select.

Duty of District Attorneys.

2882h. [Sec. 8.] On receipt of the statements from the Secretary of State, by the respective district attorneys, it is here